Swine flu: “mild strain” kills two more New Yorkers

Yesterday New York reported two more swine flu deaths (a 41-year-old woman from Queens and a 34-year-old man from Brooklyn). CDC and just about everyone else who knows anything about influenza have been telling people to expect this. The influenza virus kills people all the time. We don’t know exactly how many but we know that many people die of various immediate and underlying causes that wouldn’t have died at that time if they hadn’t become infected with the influenza virus in the period prior to their demise. Influenza is like heart disease or diabetes or cigarette smoking: a major cause of mortality that we have become used to. As long as it is described in terms of familiar seasonal influenza the public is all right with it — until they get a good dose of this really miserable illness. Meanwhile New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg is getting a taste of what can happen when you minimize the seriousness of a disease that always deserves great respect:

A day after Mayor Bloomberg told reporters that those with swine flu are “lucky” because it’s a mild strain, he struck a more sympathetic tone, urging anyone with medical problems to seek help if they feel ill.”As the virus spreads through the city and through this country and around the world, these deaths sadden us, but I don’t think they take us by surprise,” he said. ‘That doesn’t, however, lessen the loss of loved ones.” (Carrie Melago, New York Daily News)

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